TOS violation on staying in touch with clients

[willstauff]

Can you imagine if a good buyer on fiverr got “follow up emails” from all the sellers he has used? Can you imagine the constant messages he would be getting asking him to make another purchase?

I certainly don’t want that and I’m sure you don’t want to be getting messages like that either if you are a buyer.

The only issue is that there is that article encouraging what would be spamming your previous buyers, and the contacts section, although I never look at that, and it’s easy to ignore, so that really isn’t an issue.

That article could be replaced with a short notice not to send previous buyers messages asking in any way for another order.

Does that same rule of thought apply to the emails you receive from Fiverr offering specials and showing other gigs that were similar to the ones you searched for? Is that spam too?

That’s easy to mark as spam and have it blocked if you use gmail. It is legally allowed advertising from a company you have done previous business with. Fiverr has the right to make rules against anything it wants to on its site and this one makes a lot of sense.

There’s no denying that fiver establishes the rules this is their site we are their guests no disputing that …but they are making it very hard for us guests to work in a productive framework if they have two departments the marketing department and the customer service department conflicting with each other to the point where they are not sending out a unified message and make it an N environment where it becomes very hard to keep up with ever-changing rules

[willstauff]

If buyers contact you and you both agree with the price and duration of the work to be completed.You can send them the offer so that they will pay and you start working on order.

That would happen via normal Fiverr messaging.

What the OP’s pointing out is the ‘send offer’ button beside each previous buyer’s details, which would make any seller assume that these previous buyers could be contacted, and an offer be sent to them. This and the article from the help centre encouraging sellers to keep in contact with previous buyers imply that it’s fine to do exactly that when the ToS say quite the opposite.

Hence the understandable confusion. 🙂

To be clear I’m referring to the send offer button in the contacts section not my own ordering section under my profile

[Guest merciavideo]

If buyers contact you and you both agree with the price and duration of the work to be completed.You can send them the offer so that they will pay and you start working on order.

That would happen via normal Fiverr messaging.

What the OP’s pointing out is the ‘send offer’ button beside each previous buyer’s details, which would make any seller assume that these previous buyers could be contacted, and an offer be sent to them. This and the article from the help centre encouraging sellers to keep in contact with previous buyers imply that it’s fine to do exactly that when the ToS say quite the opposite.

Hence the understandable confusion. 🙂

Yep - which is why I said:

What the OP’s pointing out is the ‘send offer’ button beside each previous buyer’s details, which would make any seller assume that these previous buyers could be contacted, and an offer be sent to them.

I completely agree with you - I think you’re preaching to the converted now! 🙂

[willstauff]

I think we can imagine all kinds of scenarios here’s a real scenario that happened to me as a seller I purchased a service I was happy with it gave a buyer five stars he contacted me four months later offered me a discount and because I had such a great experience with him before …I purchased his gig again but apparently according to the TOs he should be sent a warning

[maitasun]

I think we can imagine all kinds of scenarios here’s a real scenario that happened to me as a seller I purchased a service I was happy with it gave a buyer five stars he contacted me four months later offered me a discount and because I had such a great experience with him before …I purchased his gig again but apparently according to the TOs he should be sent a warning

To be honest, I wouldn’t play with fire. Paper, specially when electronic, holds whatever you write on it. It’s better not to tempt the devil…

[Alex.M]

Good to know … since when is this not allowed … ? In the past around 6-7 months ago I was sending custom offers to happy previous buyers… fortunately nothing happened . If in my contacts I have the option to send an offer to a previous buyer I don’t see why it’s not allowed… very strange. Sending one custom offer to a potential customer is not really spam but then again who knows

[willstauff]

The problem is and maybe I’m wrong in my assessment here with the intention of stopping real spammers that are sending out real Annoying continuous junk …all the mature sellers are getting punished in the process because of instead of cracking down on the real spammers they are punishing everyone who messages

[willstauff]

To be honest, I wouldn’t play with fire. Paper, specially when electronic, holds whatever you write on it. It’s better not to tempt the devil…

I hope I’m not tempting the devil by writing this post

[willstauff]

Can you imagine if a good buyer on fiverr got “follow up emails” from all the sellers he has used? Can you imagine the constant messages he would be getting asking him to make another purchase?

I certainly don’t want that and I’m sure you don’t want to be getting messages like that either if you are a buyer.

The only issue is that there is that article encouraging what would be spamming your previous buyers, and the contacts section, although I never look at that, and it’s easy to ignore, so that really isn’t an issue.

That article could be replaced with a short notice not to send previous buyers messages asking in any way for another order.

Does that same rule of thought apply to the emails you receive from Fiverr offering specials and showing other gigs that were similar to the ones you searched for? Is that spam too?

That’s easy to mark as spam and have it blocked if you use gmail. It is legally allowed advertising from a company you have done previous business with. Fiverr has the right to make rules against anything it wants to on its site and this one makes a lot of sense.

Top rated sellers that wrote articles and did podcasts mention contacting previous buyers was essential to building their business and Fiverr promoted them… in the real world in the brick-and-mortar business your business is built on repeat clients and contacting repeat clients in a professional way but we’re not in the real world we’re on Fiverr

[maitasun]

Top rated sellers that wrote articles and did podcasts mention contacting previous buyers was essential to building their business and Fiverr promoted them… in the real world in the brick-and-mortar business your business is built on repeat clients and contacting repeat clients in a professional way but we’re not in the real world we’re on Fiverr

but we’re not in the real world we’re on Fiverr

And all comes to this little big phrase…

[willstauff]

Well I think what I need to do is this contact customer service do not provide any context whatsoever and simply ask could you please explain the contacts tab and what it’s used for

[willstauff]

Yep - which is why I said:

What the OP’s pointing out is the ‘send offer’ button beside each previous buyer’s details, which would make any seller assume that these previous buyers could be contacted, and an offer be sent to them.

I completely agree with you - I think you’re preaching to the converted now! 🙂

No problem thanks for all your input

[twistedweb123]

Nobody has addressed my question, well if TOS is very clear, then why does Fiverr have a “Contacts” section on Fiverr for sellers that gives them the option to “Send an Offer”

Capture.JPG800×476 22.7 KB

The contacts page hasn’t been developed or expanded upon since it’s initial release years ago. I actually came across a bug on this page about 18 months after it was first launched (which meant it didn’t count extras placed after initial orders in the “amount spent” total). If I remember rightly, after pointing this out, this still took a few weeks (if not months) to be corrected.

Many moons ago, following up with buyers was encouraged to help cultivate working relationships and boost sales. This has since changed and is considered spam (as like most “tips”, the masses ruin the system. Getting a follow-up email from one seller shows they’ve gone out of there way and shown great service. When everyone does this and it becomes the norm, it’s just spam)…

In short, the “contacts” section is low priority and looks like it hasn’t been updated to reflect the current TOS of the site. If you are concerned about this, I recommend forwarding your comments to customer support (I agree with your comments, the call-to-action is confusing and could easily be misused).

[manucornel]

If an old client wants to order, they will order. No need to spam them. Would you like your store clerk to come by your house and ask you if you need milk and eggs today? I wouldn’t.

If something they did right, is this Spam killing. I found so annoying people that spam old clients. If I want to order, I can figure it out myself, tyvm. 🙂

Does that same rule of thought apply to the emails you receive from Fiverr offering specials and showing other gigs that were similar to the ones you searched for? Is that spam too?

Does that same rule of thought apply to the emails you receive from Fiverr offering specials and showing other gigs that were similar to the ones you searched for? Is that spam too?

In my opinion, yes. In these cases, we can opt-out from these things and choose a email once a week or none at all. With messages from buyers you don’t have this option.

Can you imagine if a good buyer on fiverr got “follow up emails” from all the sellers he has used? Can you imagine the constant messages he would be getting asking him to make another purchase?

This! 👍

If Fiverr would allow it, this place would become PM Bombard Fest.

[catwriter]

Top rated sellers that wrote articles and did podcasts mention contacting previous buyers was essential to building their business and Fiverr promoted them… in the real world in the brick-and-mortar business your business is built on repeat clients and contacting repeat clients in a professional way but we’re not in the real world we’re on Fiverr

in the real world in the brick-and-mortar business your business is built on repeat clients and contacting repeat clients in a professional way

I hate it when vendors contact me. Yes, I bought from them before. No, I don’t want them to message me with their amazing offer; if I need something from them, I know where to find them.

Top rated sellers that wrote articles and did podcasts mention contacting previous buyers was essential to building their business and Fiverr promoted them

The “thou shall not spam buyers” rule was in place when I joined Fiverr in June 2014, so those top rated sellers must have done it before that. In other words, that rule is not new.

I’ve heard that Pro sellers are allowed to contact previous buyers, but I guess that’s because they’re vetted by Fiverr, so Fiverr trusts them not to spam.

A few non-Pro sellers mentioned that they contact their buyers from time from time, and didn’t get in trouble for that…but there are others who do the same, and get banned. I guess that it’s not the contact itself that gets you banned, it’s the buyer’s complaint (and you can’t know for certain whether one buyer is going to click on the Report button after receiving an unwanted offer).

[misscrystal]

I bought stuff on Fiverr and I get Fiverrs promotional emails all the time how is that any different

I bought stuff on Fiverr and I get Fiverrs promotional emails all the time how is that any different

Please read what I already wrote. I answered that question.

Why continue to ask the same question and have it answered and ask it again? You’ve done this three times now:

Does that same rule of thought apply to the emails you receive from Fiverr offering specials and showing other gigs that were similar to the ones you searched for? Is that spam too?

I’ve answered this question twice already.

[maitasun]

I’ll put a very simple example with an analogy, I’m sure OP will understand.

Have you seen the forum’s daily posts? Well, now imagine buyers’ emails if Fiverr would let loose all sellers to contact them…

[willstauff]

The contacts page hasn’t been developed or expanded upon since it’s initial release years ago. I actually came across a bug on this page about 18 months after it was first launched (which meant it didn’t count extras placed after initial orders in the “amount spent” total). If I remember rightly, after pointing this out, this still took a few weeks (if not months) to be corrected.

Many moons ago, following up with buyers was encouraged to help cultivate working relationships and boost sales. This has since changed and is considered spam (as like most “tips”, the masses ruin the system. Getting a follow-up email from one seller shows they’ve gone out of there way and shown great service. When everyone does this and it becomes the norm, it’s just spam)…

In short, the “contacts” section is low priority and looks like it hasn’t been updated to reflect the current TOS of the site. If you are concerned about this, I recommend forwarding your comments to customer support (I agree with your comments, the call-to-action is confusing and could easily be misused).

Thanks for the info my New Year’s resolution is to be better informed when it comes to changes on Fiverr have a great New Year

[willstauff]

in the real world in the brick-and-mortar business your business is built on repeat clients and contacting repeat clients in a professional way

I hate it when vendors contact me. Yes, I bought from them before. No, I don’t want them to message me with their amazing offer; if I need something from them, I know where to find them.

Top rated sellers that wrote articles and did podcasts mention contacting previous buyers was essential to building their business and Fiverr promoted them

The “thou shall not spam buyers” rule was in place when I joined Fiverr in June 2014, so those top rated sellers must have done it before that. In other words, that rule is not new.

I’ve heard that Pro sellers are allowed to contact previous buyers, but I guess that’s because they’re vetted by Fiverr, so Fiverr trusts them not to spam.

A few non-Pro sellers mentioned that they contact their buyers from time from time, and didn’t get in trouble for that…but there are others who do the same, and get banned. I guess that it’s not the contact itself that gets you banned, it’s the buyer’s complaint (and you can’t know for certain whether one buyer is going to click on the Report button after receiving an unwanted offer).

hate it when vendors contact me. Yes, I bought from them before. No, I don’t want them to message me with their amazing offer; if I need something from them, I know where to find them.

…so what who cares?

[willstauff]

hate it when vendors contact me. Yes, I bought from them before. No, I don’t want them to message me with their amazing offer; if I need something from them, I know where to find them.

…so what who cares?

not everybody HATES IT when they have been contacted by vendors who had a previously good experience. so since you hate it everyone should feel like you do? again…who cares

[fonthaunt]

Discussion appears to be going in circles and not all in a friendly direction. Closed.